New Bookshare Site
This month, Bookshare.org launched a new web site. The new site includes features members have been waiting for, such as navigation by headings; skip to content links; drop-down menus for the main navigation; the ability for members with low vision to enlarge text fonts; the ability to change the number of characters per line in a braille book to match your braille display; more search options; and more. To check out the improvements and explore Bookshare's ever-growing library, visit www.bookshare.org.
ASH Technologies Names American Dealer
ASH Technologies, based in County Kildare, Ireland, has been an innovator and distributor of portable video magnification products since 1984. The company recently named Eschenbach Optik of America its exclusive North American distribution partner. ASH Technologies' product line of portable devices includes the Quicklook Classic, Quicklook Zoom and Quicklook Focus, Liberty Solo, and Fusion. The company's transportable desktop video solutions include Prisma, Presto, Eclipse, and the new Horizon range of products. Eschenbach Optik of America, based in Ridgefield, Connecticut, manufactures and sells a variety of magnification solutions and conducts training for people with low vision. To learn more about the ASH Technologies product line or its new North American distributor, visit the web sites, www.ashlowvision.com or www.eschenbach.com, or phone Eschenbach Optik of America at 800-487-5389.
Largest Mainstream Tech Show Showcases Products that Blind People Can Use
The international Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held January 6–11, 2009, in Las Vegas, features one booth highlighting "vision-free" products—that is, mainstream technology that happens to be usable without sight. Among the products honored by CES is Mobile Geo, the collaboration of Sendero Group and Code Factory, which puts the popular Sendero GPS and Mobile Speak together in a package spelling accessible wayfinding on some 300 commercially available Smartphones and PDAs (personal digital assistants). Such products as talking tape measures and high-end radios will be on hand to be examined with or without sight at the Sands TechZone booth 72044. The icing on the cake is that the world-renowned singer–songwriter Stevie Wonder will also be on hand at booth 72044 to help celebrate the availability of such accessible products.
Freedom Scientific Releases JAWS 10
Freedom Scientific recently released the English version of JAWS 10, the most recent version of the company's popular screen-reading software, with enhancements that the company says will expand employment and educational opportunities for computer users who are blind. New features in JAWS 10 that the company highlighted are AutoForms Mode, JAWS Tandem, support for iTunes, and RealSpeak Direct Solo.
AutoForms mode is designed to assist users who are blind to navigate the Internet and Firefox and promises to render easier access to HTML and PDF pages. JAWS Tandem provides JAWS users with remote access, enabling one JAWS user to access the computer of another for training or troubleshooting. The RealSpeak Direct Solo Synthesizer is said to be more responsive than is the SAPI 5 option in JAWS 8 and 9.
Training materials and 17 DAISY titles are available for JAWS and MAGic when users use the Check for Updates feature in either program. To learn more, download sample RealSpeak voices, or download DAISY training materials, visit the web site, www.freedomscientific.com, or phone 800-444-4443.
ViewPlus Collaboration with Design Science, Good News
For mathematicians, math students, and teachers who are blind, a collaboration between ViewPlus Technologies and Design Science sounds like good news. Using the Tiger Software Suite from ViewPlus and a Tiger Braille embosser, along with MathType from Design Science, the new option makes it possible to create custom math documents in Microsoft Word. Users can insert equations from MathType into a Word document, add desired text and graphics, and translate the document to braille in one easy step. Equations appear in both braille and ink, allowing sighted readers to follow along. The documents can then be embossed using a Tiger embosser for high-resolution tactile output. Translation to the Nemeth code and LtTeX is currently available, and additional math codes will become available in 2009.
For more information about Design Science and MathType, visit the web site, www.dessci.com. To learn more about the Tiger Software and Tiger embosser, visit the web site, www.viewplus.com.
Serotek Releases System Access 3.0
The company that was the first to introduce remote access to computer users who are blind has just released System Access 3.0, bringing new features and improving some old ones to this popular screen-reading software. Perhaps the most newsworthy addition is the product's full support of 64-bit operating systems, which, according to a recent announcement, will enable the average user to buy any Netbook or other 64-bit-based product off the shelf and know that it can be accessible.
Other features include voice-over capabilities (enabling users to have conversations for training or just chatting online without the addition of Skype or other third-party software), compatibility with the ALVA BC640 Braille Display, continued support of the onboard client supporting instant messaging through MSN or AOL Instant Messenger, and a host of ways to have fun with a computer.
"Computers aren't just for work any more," stated a recent Serotek announcement. To back up the claim, System Access provides full support for iTunes 8 and has forged a collaboration with All In Play, the company that brings online games to blind and sighted players alike.
"Combine System Access support for Anagram Tag, Texas Hold'em, Crazy Eights, and the classic game of poker with the crisp clarity of the System Access Mobile network chat system," the company announcement said, "and you'll have accessibility and entertainment wherever you go."
To upgrade or test-drive System Access 3.0, visit the web site www.satogo.com or www.serotek.com.
